Chapter 21: The Dragon King

Chapter 21:

"___" - Speech

(___) - Thoughts

{___} - Internal Voice(s)

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Issei's eyes sparkled as he glanced out the window of the Gremory households train, he took in the sight of a bizarre murky violet sky, supposedly the boundary separating humans from the Underworld. 

"Issei-senpai, what are you doing?" His petite underclassman approached him with a curious look on her face. 

"Just looking, I still find it strange that of all the mediums we're using a train to get to the Underworld. I was expecting a portal or something." Without uttering a response, Koneko inched closer towards him until her shoulder bumped into his ribcage. 

"Something the matter?" He queried. 

"Are you feeling alright?" The corners of his mouth almost dipped into a frown as he observed the clear worry on her face, and it wasn't hard to guess what the root was. 

"Does this have something to do with yesterday?" She offered a silent nod as he heaved a deep sigh. "I'm fine, I just got a little fired up that's all." 

"It won't happen again, right?" He met her with a reassuring smile as he gently patted her head. 

"Truth is, I can't make any promises." Before she could intervene, he gestured for her to let him keep going. "However, what can I promise, is that even if I do go off the deep end again, I'll always come back. Trust me." 

Though a part of her felt soothed by his calmness, another part feared the possibility that he was just putting a brave-front. "You're a pervert, but I trust you Issei-senpai." He chuckled dryly as the train started to slow. 

"Now arriving at, Sitri Territory." 

The compartment door opened as Sona, with both Saji and Tsubaki at her side, walked in. "Yo, Hyoudou." The blond waved. 

"Saji? You were here?" 

"Mhm, you're not the only ones who need training. Once this break is over I'll be way stronger than you, so watch ou—" Sona stopped him with a swift chop to his head as he massaged his hurt cranium. 

"Enough. Rias, I'll be getting off now so I just wanted to thank you for letting us use the train." 

"Of course, we'll be meeting again soon anyways so it's the least I could do." 

"Indeed." The two only shared a brief exchange of words, before Sona turned her sights towards the sound asleep figure laid out on the couch in front of her. 

"Iwata-san." Her voice seemed to fall on deaf ears as the Fallen Angel continued to snooze away without a care in the world. "I-wa-ta-san." She repeated, but once again it was to little avail. "Fine then." She inched closer to the couch, pinching his cheek as she startled him awake. 

"Wha- Wha? Huh? Are we already there?" His vision was still hazy as he squinted in her direction. "Serafall? What are you doing here?" A vein almost burst out of her head as she withheld the urge to slug the drowsy young man. 

"I'm Sona, idiot." 

"Oh." He nodded as he put his head right back on his pillow. 

"Don't you have something to say?" 

"Huh? Oh yeah I forgot." She smiled as he seemed to have finally come to his senses. "Merry christmas." Her fists balled as Tsubaki jumped in to hold her back. 

"Hmph, like I care." She stormed off as the Gremory peerage looked at Jin in disbelief, Azazel in particular couldn't help but shake his head helplessly. 

"Jin, you can't be giving women the cold shoulder like that." 

"I already have one screaming in my head every second of the day, it's exhausting." A sudden brain freeze attacked him out of nowhere, causing him to wince as he gripped his temple. "You see what I'm talking about?" 

"Yare yare, you should've consulted me before making such a ridiculous deal." 

"I don't regret it. She actually agrees with me most of the time, but once she gets going on her monologues. Well, my fatigue should tell you what that feels like." 

"Even so, I could've probably figured out a better avenue for you to get stronger. You shouldn't have jumped to extreme measures like that." 

"Better? Or easier?" 

"Oh so now you decide to get all smart? Sheesh." Azazel groaned as he left his sleepy recruit to his own devices. "You better not take this attitude up with your mentor, you'll get beat into a pulp." 

"Just who is this 'mentor' anyways? We're almost there and you still haven't told me." 

"You'll see." Jin rolled his eyes as he stuffed his face back into his pillow, only experiencing momentary peace until he felt someone tapping at his back. 

"What no- Oron?" 

"Jin-sama, I'll be going with Azazel-sama to Grigori as soon as we depart, will you be fine at the Gremory household on your own?" 

"Eh? That's where I'm going?" Oron gripped his forehead out of frustration. 

"You weren't listening were you?" Jin stiffly shook his head. "Before you come to Grigori, Azazel wants you to get acquainted with them, not just the Sitri's, since he doesn't want it to look like you're taking sides." 

"Oh, politics?" He groaned, hoping he'd be able to avoid the concept for as long as possible.

"Yes Jin-sama, politics. Remember you're representing Azazel-sama whilst you're there, so try not to embarrass yourself." 

"I'm a professional, don't worry about it." His words didn't seem to reassure his assistant in the slightest. "All I have to do is meet with them right? How hard could it be?" 

"Try not to get overconfident, you never know what type of questions they're going to throw at you." 

"Relax, I'll be A-ok. You just focus on your training with Azazel." He yawned as Oron shuddered to imagine what travesty Jin was likely to cause. 

"I hope so." Time passed on as the train came to a slow once more, the sudden change in pace caused Jin to haul himself to his feet in the assumption that they were soon to arrive. 

"Now arriving at, Gremory Territory."

Out of curiosity, he decided to approach the window to get a good look of the area below, and the sight was nothing short of stunning. 

(So this is the Underworld? I was expecting something more— malicious.) 

Just like earth, the homeland of the Devils was roofed by a blue sky, with lush greenery and long stretching rivers beneath it. The territory itself was separated into hexagonal sections, each bustling with culture and art. 

(Talk about wealth.) 

"Pretty impressive eh? It's practically the size of Honshu Island." Azazel approached. "Me and Oron ought to get going soon, but first we'll be taking a little detour." 

"What for?" 

"You'll see." The train came to an abrupt halt as he walked towards the adjacent cabin, signaling for both Jin and Oron to follow suit. 

"Azazel-sensei, what's going on?" Issei asked.

"Nothing serious, it's probably just another routine inspection seeing as quite a few important figures are on this train. I'm going to go check with the Conductor just to be sure." As the cabin door behind them closed, the corners of the Governor's mouth curled up. "Now then, let's see how they fare." 

Before he had a chance to question him, Jin was enveloped in a white flash as his surroundings changed in the span of a mere blink. "The hell?" All of a sudden, he had found himself on top of what looked to be a rocky ravine with a deep valley running down its middle. 

He looked around only to see that he was completely on his lonesome, causing a faint sense of worry to seep in through the cracks of his mind as he tried to make heads or tails of his situation. 

(Adaloth, what's going on?) 

{Stay sharp, there's another Dragon in the area and it's not that brown-haired brat. Don't even think about engaging it, you'll die.} 

(A Dragon!? Please tell me it's Azazel's doing and I've not just been thrown into certain death.) 

Stomp! 

Just as his better half had foretold, Jin could feel his heart beat out of his chest as the sound of gargantuan feet slamming their way into the ravine below, crumbling the sediment beneath it into a fine powder. 

"Holy shit." His breath sharpened as the sight of an enormous dark-lilac maw came into sight, with toughened scales capable of deflecting even the sharpest of weapons. "I'm fucked." Despite the immense height of the valley, the beast somehow towered above it as if it were naught but a sandcastle. "I'm so utterly fucked." 

And then it happened, the titan came to a sudden halt as it slowly turned its head, locking its reptilian-pupils with Jin's dread-induced figure. "Uhm, you're a nice Dragon right?" He wanted nothing more than to take off in a full sprint, but something about the creature's stare had him locked in place, as if disobeying its will was a surefire death sentence. 

(How on earth did I just go from lounging about on a couch to staring death itself in the eyes? I must be cursed.) 

"Listen, uh, sir. I was thrust here not by my own doing, so if you let me live I'll be out of your sight immediately, I promise." The only solution he could muster up, was to try negotiate with the mighty lifeform, but his words only caused it to lean in closer to him, sending an endless hailstorm of sweat running down his face. "Pretty please?" 

Out of the blue, a strong gust of air blew his hair backwards as its nostrils flared, leaving Jin both startled and confused in the process. "Did you just —sniff me?" He questioned, but in response all it did was turn its head away and focus its attention on something below it. 

"ASIA! RUN!" A familiar voice resounded through his ear canals as Jin dashed towards the edge of the ravine, as he looked over his mouth twisted with panic as the sight of the Gremory peerage sprawled out in front of the beast furthered his fear. 

"Shit." He watched as the beast's fangs pried apart, making way for an orange cluster of flames to gather within its throat. "Wait, how come their leader isn't with them? And also why was I the only one brought up here?" As strange as he found the situation, now wasn't the time for contemplation. 

(I could use some help here.) 

{Did I not make myself clear the first time? Forget it, there's nothing you can do against that monster. Besides, it's all just a charade so you might as well just let it play out.} 

(A charade?) 

{He's not even using a thousandth of his full might, stop and think for a second. This is quite obviously arranged by that blond-streaked dirtbag, now sit back and watch what a real Dragon looks like, you could learn something.} 

Though he had complete faith in her, he couldn't help but feel that they were in mortal danger regardless of how much strength the purple Dragon decided to use. "Isn't this a little far? Even for a charade." He bit his lower lip as he watched the Gremory peerage get thrown around like insects, moreover the fact that the half-vampire couldn't bring himself to stare the beast down did little to help the situation. 

"Enjoying the view?" With a scowl on his face, Jin turned around to face his boss. "There's no need to look so grim, I even sent you a little ahead to make sure you got a good view of Tannin. Impressive isn't it?" Both Rias and Oron were at his side, with one having an understandably more concerned expression than the other. 

"Governor, if anything happens to my precious subordinates I hope you know I'll expect you to take full accountability." She warned. 

"Calm down, Tannin's trained plenty of people before, he'll just rough them up a little, that's all." The sound of flames crashing down and bones smashing against stone in the distance didn't make him sound all that convincing. 

"Really now?" 

"They won't die, trust me." For the first time, both Rias and Jin's mindsets were aligned. "So, what's she saying about Tannin?" 

"Can't say I feel like telling you." Jin snapped, whilst Adaloth internally nodded. 

"Don't be like that, surely she must've realized something by now?" The [Gold General] rolled his eyes as he swallowed his urge to slug his boss. 

"She says it's a charade, which I'm finding rather hard to believe." Azazel smirked as he nodded in approval.

"He is indeed only using a smidget of his power, this is just a test to see how they handle a situation without the aid of their leader. It'll be a good lesson for them." As the Fallen Angel explained, Tannin's tail collided with the [Rook] of the peerage, causing Rias to ball her fists in both angst and anger. 

"What part of this is a lesson Governor? My subordinates are being manhandled by that beast." 

"I agree, whether it's a lesson, test, or whichever label you want to give it, aren't you going too far?" Rias gaped as she found it hard to believe that Jin was actually siding with her, against his own leader of all people. 

"Tannin is an Ultimate-Class Devil with more experience under his belt than you could ever imagine, I won't repeat myself, he knows what he's doing." 

"A Devil? He's clearly a Dragon." 

"Of course, but like Hyoudou he was reincarnated as a Devil. When he used to actively compete in the Rating Games, his dominance was so overwhelming to the point where the Underworld had no choice but to promote him. Truly a force to be reckoned with." Jin's pupils flared as he stared at Tannin in disbelief. 

(A full-blooded Dragon and an Ultimate-Class Devil? That's nothing but horrifying.) 

"Oh, looks like he's satisfied." The Dragon's rampage came to an end as Tannin folded his arms together, surveying the beaten and bruised young Devils he had just laid waste to. 

"Azazel, just so you know I only agreed to this because Sirzechs requested it of me. So don't go getting any snide ideas." 

"Whatever you say." The Fallen Angel shrugged.

"Woah, it spoke." Jin couldn't help but blurt out, covering his mouth soon after as he assumed that he had just insulted the beast. "Wait, I didn't mean it like that!" Tannin turned towards him, once again bringing his head closer to Jin as his eyes locked him in place. 

"Having the chance to train Ddraig's host was already strange enough, but to see a Silver Dragon in such a warm area. Today truly is full of surprises." Tannin's lack of irritation left Jin at a loss for words, he simply blinked repeatedly as he tried to process what his ears had just been exposed to. "You should come over to my territory some time soon, it's been a long time since us Dragons have spoken with such an isolated race. I'm not sure how your population is fairing, but I could help you find a mate if need be. It'd be such a waste to let a species like yours go extinct." 

(I have no words, I am quite literally speechless.) 

"Tannin, I think you're missing something." 

"Hm? Ah, a Fallen Angel as well, how odd. I was so preoccupied that I didn't pick up on it at first, is he one of yours?" 

"He is, unfortunately I've already found someone to tutor him so you'll have to be a little patient." 

"A shame, oh well, I don't have much to do these days so I'll wait." 

(Seriously, just what the hell is happening right now?)